Gifted Children

Excerpt

Children can be gifted in a variety of different areas, including musical talent, athleticism, and artistic ability among others. The focus of this entry will be solely on those children who are gifted in intellectual ability and academic achievement. Identification of intellectual giftedness usually requires an individually administered intelligence test, achieving a Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) of 130 or higher, which is a threshold that dates back to Lewis Terman’s research at Stanford in the early to mid 20th century. Although this seems like an arbitrary score, an IQ score of 130 and above is where an individual scores two standard deviations above the population average score, thus falling in the upper 2% of the population. This level of cognitive ability is correlated with many positive life outcomes such as increased level of education, higher income, and longer life expectancy, although results may vary widely across this high intelligence group.